Teens accused of ransacking elderly widow’s home

Deputy constables in Montgomery County were in the right place at the right time to nab teenagers suspected of breaking into an elderly widow’s home Thursday afternoon and ransacking it, breaking furniture and battering walls with a baseball bat, officials said.

Four teens, three boys and one girl, are charged with burglary of a habitation in connection with the incident at the house in the 300 block of Cumberland in the River Plantation subdivision about 5 p.m. Thursday, said Montgomery County Precinct 2 Constable Gene DeForest. Two of the teens are also charged with fleeing. The teens’ names have not been released because they are juveniles.

DeForest said aside from burglarizing the home, the teens “tore up” the inside of the house with a baseball bat. They shattered mirrors, splintered furniture and smashed dishes. They broke up the woman’s sleigh bed and ripped pictures from the walls. They smashed a television. They punched holes and jammed a broom handle through the walls. They threw ice cream on the kitchen floor. DeForest said it appeared they even tried to light a fire on the kitchen counter but the combustible material they lit didn’t ignite.

The bat the teens used to batter the house and furnishings was found lying on the floor.

“They literally tore up this house, ” DeForest said. “I’ve been in law enforcement 40 years and I’ve never seen a house torn up like this.”

DeForest said the homeowner, whose name has not been released, is in her 80s and her husband had died about five or six months ago. She was not at the home when the burglary and damage occurred. She had recently fallen and broken her pelvis and was staying with a friend as she recuperated from surgery. She has not been inside the house to see the destruction.

DeForest said his chief deputy, Steve Roper, helped catch the teens while he was on his way home from work. An alert neighbor called the woman and told she heard banging inside the house. The homeowner reported it to law enforcement. When the dispatch call was issued, Roper said he was nearby because he lives in the same area and he checked the house. Sure enough, DeForest said, Roper saw signs of forced entry and heard someone scrambling to get out the back door. He waited at the backdoor for them and nabbed two of the teens when they came out.

In the meantime, DeForest said, Lt. W. L. Gladden, responded to the emergency dispatch and pulled up to the front of the house. He spotted the two other teens run out the front door. He chased them and caught them.

“It’s always good to be in the right place at the right time and that’s how it was this time,” DeForest said.